Course Descriptions

3 Credits, Fall Semester

Prerequisite: None

Designed to provide you with a graduate‐level overview of the role of the social and behavioral sciences in understanding and addressing public health problems. Three general topics are covered. First, we examine how psychological, social, and environmental factors influence people’s health and wellbeing. Second, we explore factors that influence health behavior, including individual, social, and environmental/community influences. Third, we explore how understanding behavior and social/environmental influences on health informs public health approaches to improving health and preventing disease. The course prepares public health students to satisfy MPH competencies in social and behavioral sciences.

Format: Seated and Online

Prerequisite: None

Introduction to the basic principles, methods, and uses of epidemiology. This course is a master’s/doctoral level course designed to introduce epidemiology, its methods and its role in public health. A major portion of the course will be devoted to an overview of fundamental epidemiologic methods used in public health research and practice. The student will be familiarized with basic measures used in describing disease frequency in populations. Descriptive and analytic approaches to the study of disease will be explored, and a perspective on the role of epidemiologic methods in health services planning and evaluation will be provided. Problem solving exercises will be used to provide students with an opportunity to tabulate data and apply subject matter developed during lectures and in reading assignments. At the end of the course students should have a general understanding of the uses and limitations of epidemiologic inquiry. This understanding should provide the basis for applying epidemiologic concepts in work-related settings and in other courses in the public health curriculum.

Format: seated

The course is for students in the public health sciences who seek to develop hands-on introductory data analysis skills. Students will learn basic methods for data organization and management as well as basic skills in data exploration and presentation. The course includes emphasis on the application and interpretation of commonly used introductory statistical tests in the computer laboratory using SAS software. Topics include descriptive statistics, hypothesis testing for means, proportions, elementary non-parametric techniques, t-tests, ANOVA, correlations, and linear regression.

Format: seated

Prerequisite: None

Intended for students with little or no background in the biological sciences and health professions. The course provides a broad overview of public health topics related to human health and disease focusing on disease etiology with particular emphasis on parasitic and microbial infections plus a review of the anatomy, physiology, and pathology of selected major organ systems and associated diseases of public health importance.

Format: seated

Prerequisite: None

Introduces students to the historical development, structure, operation, and current and future directions of the major components of the American health care delivery and public health systems. It examines the ways in which health care services are organized and delivered, the influences that impact health care public policy decisions, factors that determine priorities in financing health care services and the relationship of health care costs to measurable benefits. The course enables students to assess the role of organized efforts to influence health policy formulation, and the contributions of medical technology, research findings, and societal values to the evolving U.S. health care delivery system. Class time is also devoted to exploring emerging policy, ethical and legal dilemmas resulting from medical and technological advances.

Format: seated and online

Prerequisite: None

Provides students with an overview of the development of management and leadership concepts within health care organizations. Delves into the strategic and policy issues challenging health care systems (access, financing, defining and quantifying quality, etc.). Provides a practical framework of the professional competencies and skills needed to be an effective administrator within a complex health care system.

Format: Online, asynchronous

Prerequisite: None

Allows students to synthesize the knowledge and skills developed during the academic portion of their program in a practical application setting. Field training experiences vary depending upon the student’s interest and concentration area; experiences need to be approved by the MPH concentration director.

Learn more about MPH Field Training.

Prerequisite: None

Introductory course that explores the role of environmental factors in health with an emphasis on characterization, assessment, and control of environmental hazards. Topics include application of toxicologic and epidemiologic methods in assessing risk and setting exposure limits; the nature of and control of hazards associated with food, water, air, solid and liquid waste, occupation, and radiation; risk communication and management, environmental justice; and environmental laws. The course concludes by examining the impact of human activity, such as energy use and pollution, on the environment and how human-induced environmental change, in turn, impacts public health and that of the planet as a whole.

Format: seated and online

Prerequisites: EEH 501 and EEH 550

Advanced course designed to provide students with the latest knowledge and an in-depth discussion of how the environment interacts with human biological systems and potentiates various health effects over the life cycle. The course includes a detailed examination of environmental hazards, exposure assessment, human susceptibility, biological response pathways, application of biomarkers in environmental health studies and the disease burden of environmental exposure. The course focuses on three major environmental topics: air pollution, water pollution and food safety.

Format: seated

Prerequisite: None

This course introduces students to public health issues from a practice-based perspective. Through presentations by public health leaders and practitioners, readings, group discussion and class activities, students practice integrating public concepts to better understand issues, and develop responses. Course content focuses on public health issues from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), American Public Health Association (APHA), World Health Organization (WHO), local and state health departments or other organizations.

This course partially satisfies the requirements for IPCP Digital Badge #1.

Format: online

Prerequisite: Permission of instructor

The purpose of the culminating projects is for MPH students to integrate core public health knowledge and skills. It will take the form of a paper prepared during the concluding semester of the student’s program.

3 Credits, Summer Semester

Prerequisite: None

This course provides you with a survey of topics related to aging and health in contemporary society. We cover how interactions of biological, psychological, emotional, spiritual, socioeconomic and environmental factors effect older adults. Readings and discussion include a review of the epidemiology and demographic trends of aging, theoretical and developmental models in aging, health policies, intergenerational relationships, retirement preparation and support resources related to illness and end of life. The course also presents an overview of health behaviors and morbidities related to aging in U.S. society.

This course completes some of the requirements for the Strategies in Eliminating Health Inequities Micro-Credential.

Format: Online

3 Credits, Fall Semester

Health Equity is designed to give students an in-depth understanding of the social determinants of health and how their ills and benefits are unequally distributed across society. We will cover differences in health status associated with race, ethnicity, immigrant status, education, income, disability, geographic location, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity. We will examine the multiple pathways through which these inequities produced and reinforced, including structural and interpersonal discrimination and stigma. We will also discuss methods for conducting research and intervening in disadvantaged communities. The course will provide historical and theoretical perspectives on the problem, provide a critical examination of empirical support for various explanatory pathways, and will cover approaches to studying and reducing health disparities.

Format: Online

Prerequisite: None

Provides an overview of compelling public health problems among the world’s poor. Topics addressed will include infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis; the rise of tobacco-related disease; the role of water, hygiene, and sanitation in the prevention of disease; maternal and neonatal mortality; surveillance; and disaster response in the resource-poor setting. Students will gain practical experience in developing and presenting strategies for the implementation and evaluation of public health programs in the resource-poor setting.

Prerequisite: EEH 500, EEH 501

Focuses on the theory and epidemiologic methods used in the epidemiologic study of infectious diseases. Emphasis is on the investigation of infectious disease outbreaks, evaluations of vaccine efficacy and effectiveness, and surveillance for infectious diseases of public health importance. The course includes an examination of the following infectious diseases, among others: HIV/AIDs, influenza, foodborne disease, sexually transmitted infections, dengue fever, and vaccine-preventable diseases.

Format: seated

Prerequisite: EEH 573

Advanced course studying recent outbreaks of infectious disease. Each session will deal with an individual agent, review recent outbreaks, and discuss public health implications. Emphasis will be placed on epidemiologic principles, maneuvers by public health authorities to investigate and contain outbreaks, and relationships to the media. Topics and outbreaks will be selected with immediacy and relevance to public health.

Prerequisites: EEH 500, EEH 501

Provides epidemiology and environmental health students with a working knowledge of epidemiologic theory and practice applied to issues of environmental health. Case studies and specific environmental issues will be used to illustrate the application of epidemiologic theory to understand the role of environmental factors in the etiology of disease.

Prerequisite: None

Special topics determined by individual faculty interest.

This course is designed to introduce students to challenges in water, sanitation, and hygiene for low-income countries and their implications for global health and inequities. The course will offer an interactive learning experience for students and provide multidisciplinary perspectives ranging from public health, environmental health, engineering, architecture, policy, and planning. This course welcomes students from all disciplines.